The district officials here suspended a headmistress of a government-run school on charges of stealing mid-day meal (MDM) rice and selling it in the market.

The suspended teacher was the headmistress of Dadhibaman Upper Primary School at Bahabalapur within Nandipur gram panchayat area, an official said today.

The District Education Officer (DEO) Krushna Chandra Nayak suspended the headmistress yesterday after investigation reports confirmed her involvement in the misuse of MDM scheme rice, the official said.

The irregularities came to the fore after some students, guardians and locals brought it to the notice of the DEO last month, he said.

After receiving public complaints of misuse of MDM rice by the school's headmistress, the Jajpur DEO had directed Block Education Officer (BEO) of Dasarathapur, Ajay Kumar Das to carry out an inquiry into the matter and prepare a report on it, he added.

The Dasarathapur BEO paid a visit to the Dadhibaman Upper Primary School and found irregularities and misuse of MDM rice, the official said.

The DEO suspended the head mistress on the basis of the inquiry report, he said.

"During inquiry it was found that the headmistress has misused MDM rice meant for the students of the school," Nayak said.